He has a heritage, and so do people in Louisiana—including Louisiana Democrats.
Back in ‘88, when I met my first Cajuns (I grew up in rural Oregon), Dems outnumbered Pubs in the state by about 9-1.
The present governor of Louisiana is probably to the right of at least a third of the Pub’s in Congress, and arguably 2-3rds. He, not Manchin, is by far the most conservative Dem office holder who is not merely local in the country.
The first Louisiana governor to support abortion via veto left the Dems to become a “RINO,” skipping Reagan and running right to the Bushes. Although I believe he had Bush Srs. active support, he finished third in the jungle primary, behind two pro-life candidates. A former Dem governor who had had to take time off as governor to spend some time in prison, and a former Grand Wizard of the KKK who was running as a Pub. This gave rise to one of the best bumper stickers ever: “Vote for the Crook. It’s important.”
Likely there is still some residual memory of Lincoln down there, and an appreciation of FDR in a positive way, which Reagan himself couldn’t overcome on the local level. These things take time. Ditto for Kentucky, West Virginia and Arkansas.
Seal said. “Don’t care about abortion and Democrats support that. They are against the Second Amendment and I support the Second Amendment, and I am for closed borders.